Thread by @LocalRachel

The microbiome: beginners🧵

The next period in health will orientate around the microbiome.

This is actually health knowledge focus forgotten due to blood test culture & reductionist ways.

Hippocrates, the father of medicine, concluded this towards the end of his life:

I am noticing people talking about the microbiome incorrectly and this is an important topic so I have put this thread together.

The human microbiome is a collection of diverse microorganisms that live throughout your body - both inside & outside of it.

britannica.com/science/human-…

These microorganisms include many, many species of:

🦠bacteria
🦠bacteriophage
🦠fungi (including yeast)
🦠protozoans
🦠archaea
🦠parasites
🦠viruses
🦠prions

We live symbiotically* with these microorganisms.

For example, we have approximately 100 trillion cells in the human body.

There are approximately approx 200 trillion bacteria on and in the human body.

In short: we have more bacteria inside of us than we have our own cells!!

The largest concentration of diverse microorganisms
(we currently know about)
are in your digestive tract AKA digestive system AKA
'gut'

This has the largest surface area inside your body & direct access to more & new microorganisms from your food and drink.

The gut's surface area is smaller than initially thought at 30-40 square meters.

But this is still a lot of surface area to house many microorganisms together inside of us.

sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/…

This gut microbiome can also house things we do not need inside including pollutants (such as plastics), foreign bodies and heavy metals.

The microorganisms in out gut can also store & be affected by medications too: sciencealert.com/the-drugs-you-…

This large gut microbiome acts like a massive library (in my mind).

It 'shares' microorganisms between the microbiome sites not in the digestive system.

For example, microbiomes in your:

Brain
Ear
Eye
Nose
Lung
Heart
Liver
Kidney
Bladder
Fallopial tube
Vagina
Vas deferens

Your microbiome massively links to your immunity & health.

In my opinion it IS you health and immunity.

Our microorganisms want us to thrive so they can thrive!

We live with them with us from birth.

Without enough of them thriving in balance we die.

frontiersin.org/articles/10.33…

There is soooo much research on how
🤝gut microbiome affects health
🤝lifestyle, diet & disorders affect gut microbiome

eg obesity & insulin resistance: journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.11…

eg sleep & hypoxia: biorxiv.org/content/10.110…

Take a look yourself for something that interests you!

You can view a gut microbiome like a forest & its flora.

All the different plant species are like the different microorganisms all living together.

If the forest ecosystem is not in balance then you can have
one type of plant overgrowing
or
one type dying out in the forest

Dysbiosis is the term for an unbalanced gut microbiome.

This could be due to changes in each microflora's location, distribution, composition, health or activity.

Some indicators of this are constipation, diarrhea, nausea, bloating, wind, bad breath, fatigue & mood disorders.

Dysbiosis is common.

At least 50% of Western populations have active signs of dysbiosis at any one time.

Dysbiosis causes:
☹️diet
☹️medication/NSAID/contraceptive pill
☹️antibiotics
☹️pollutants
☹️environment
☹️hygiene
☹️thoughts/feelings
☹️circadian disturbances
☹️stressors

In the gut microbiome some common overgrowths of a microflora include:

Candida which is a type of yeast
SIBO - small intestine bacterial overgrowth
SIFO - small intestine fungal overgrowth

To have healthy & diverse microflora populations a diverse natural diet is recommended.

As fungi (which yeasts & molds belongs to) is an interest of mine it is worth mentioning these terms:
study of fungus = mycology
colonies of fungi inside body = mycobiome
toxic byproducts of fungi = mycotoxins

Mycobiome affects microbiome balances:
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/pmc/artic…

You can take a test to identify the makeup of your gut microbiome.

This is a stool test. You literally scoop some of your poop into a little pot & send it to a lab for analysis.

Depending on the lab & test chosen they can identify bacteria, parasites and health disorders too.

Although the field is new & database of microorganisms are limited I do believe it is useful to learn about your own gut microbiome composition.

Learning how to preserve & curate your own diverse & resiliant gut microbiome forest like some epic gardener is essential for health.

I do an annual gut microbiome stool test.

I use a service which works with a lab. They provide dietary recommendations and sell products to enhance microbiome health.

I received a breakdown of my bacteria flora percentages, what was concerning & links to science papers.

Like gardens or forests, human microbiomes change throughout the seasons and with day/night, heat/cold cycles too.

I hope you found this introduction to the microbiome useful.

I wish you well in starting your own personal microbiome relationship journey.