Bacteria in us The gut can have a profound impact on our health, but research is showing that the things that surround us in our environment—what is called the natural environmental microbiome—can also can have a big impact. This suggests that we should all spend more time interacting with nature, both outdoors and indoors.
I was first introduced to this emerging field of science by Professor Gretchen Daily from Stanford University. She points to a Finnish research project that found letting preschool-aged children play in a yard filled with “dirt” from the forest floor had a significant positive impact on the gut microbiome. of them. 79 young children participated, all of whom lived in urban environments and spent most of their day at different daycare centers across Finland. The only difference between them is that these daycare centers have three different types of outdoor spaces.
The first type is a fairly standard outdoor play area, consisting of concrete, gravel and some plastic mats. The second type is the type commonly found in daycare environments that are inherently nature-oriented, with grass, dirt, and plants for children to play. These two served as a control to compare the third test space, where concrete and gravel were covered with sections of forest floor and soil from the local coniferous forest.
Children were encouraged to play in only one of three types of courts each day during the 28-day experiment (note that some kindergartens had multiple play areas). Before and after playtime, the children's gut and skin microbiomes were measured using bacterial genetic sequences taken from skin and stool samples, along with changes in T cells and cytokines in their blood. These cells and proteins play an important role in preventing autoimmunity and autoimmune diseases; Their levels are often used as an indication of how well the immune system is working.
Remarkable results have emerged. Children playing in the experimental field had significantly increased diversity of their skin and gut microbiota compared to children playing in urban and natural areas. What's important is that these are “good” microorganisms – those that are associated with health benefits. There was also a significant increase in immune markers in children, suggesting they had acquired enhanced immune regulatory pathways – this suggests a reduced risk of immune-mediated diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease and rheumatoid arthritis.
The importance of this research cannot be overstated. It implies that even short-term exposure to the microbial diversity of nature has the potential to radically alter the diversity of the microbiota on our skin and in our gut. Additionally, it suggests that altered gut microbiota may modulate the function of our immune system.
A healthy microbiome is created, not born
Everyone has one unique bacterial communities in their gut—a person's ethnicity, the foods they consume, antibiotic use, body size, and how much they exercise all leave clear signs of diversity. form of their gut bacteria. The role of these microbial communities is significant. Our organs can only synthesize 11 of the 20 essential amino acids we need, so the rest, along with the 13 essential vitamins, are taken up by our gut bacteria. and synthesis.
And these microbial communities don't just help our gut get nutrients from food. Bacteria also produce some of the most important compounds for our health, including immunosuppressants, anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory compounds. They appear to be linked to the functioning of the immune system, the central nervous system, and related health outcomes, to the extent that a clear correlation has been found between specific gut microbiota. — also known as the “disease” microbiome — and certain diseases. People with particular gut bacterial profiles include irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, celiac disease and colorectal cancer as well as extra-intestinal disorders such as obesity and type 2 diabetes.