You and 28 Trillion Friends

You are very much outnumbered. There are 38 trillion microbes in the human body on average. That’s only 1-3% of our mass, but what they lack in size, they make up in impact on the quality of our lives. You may have heard of the microbiome by now, and its importance in maintaining our health. Fact is, while we were born with a relatively inflexible genome, we have a great deal of control over our microbiome, and in turn, over our health. Our genome is only about 0.1% different from any other human on the planet. But our response to stress, to disease, and even aging has a vast amount of variation. How can this be?

Well, our environment turns on and off certain genes; that phenomenon is called epigenetics. But even that doesn’t account for all the variation. In fact, your “inner ecosystem”, or compliment of bacteria is so unique to you that it is practically a signature. If you live with another person, then you probably have a more similar microbiome to them than anyone else. But you control the diversity and health of your microbiome.

With the rise of auto-immune conditions, food sensitivities, and chronic inflammatory states, science has been investigating the role of our microbiome. It turns out that proper functioning of our organs more or less depends on a healthy ecosystem of bacteria. And that dysfunction and even toxicity of the microbiome contributes to most of the disease states in the US. Irritable bowel syndrome? The microbiome in your small bowel is likely off kilter. Psoriasis? Your skin microflora is probably a big part of it.

“Egads!”, you might be saying. “How does this even happen? I eat a fairly healthy diet. I don’t have terrible habits.” There are many reasons we don’t have the ecosystem we need. Caesarean section babies are not inoculated with the mother’s microbiota at birth. Babies who were not breastfed miss out on the microbiota of the mother, too. By the time most kids are 3 or 4 years old, they have been on antibiotics numerous times. So we start off behind the eight ball from the very beginning.

But you’re an adult now. Shouldn’t that have corrected itself by now? Well, our food supply has something to do with it. Processed food has antimicrobial compounds so they store longer. But that knocks out your bacteria too. Pesticides and herbicides on our food selectively target the good bacteria in our gut. So we loose our microbiota from eating not just fruits and veggies, but other products that contain trace amounts of pesticides too. Like Cheerios. Who doesn’t love Cheerios? But there are detectable levels of RoundUpTM in packaged cereal. And finally, take a look at your personal care products. Whatever we put on our skin gets absorbed. We need to think as much about what we put on our bodies as in our bodies.

Okay, this is a lot. Think about removing sources of toxicity gradually. We can’t build Rome in a day. But then we can rebuild our microbiome by doing fun things, like eating berries, rich in polyphenols and fiber! Adding new foods to the diet adds diversity. So try new things! Resistant fiber feeds the good bacteria in the gut, so enjoy your oatmeal. Probiotics can be helpful, especially if you’re coming off of a round of antibiotics. But be selective about those. You may want to stick with various fermented foods like kimchi, kefir, and kombucha. Probiotics are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration so there are some real duds out there. If you do choose one, make sure there have been studies to support the claims.

And finally, take a good look at your skincare, which includes sunscreen by the way. Read labels. If it contains oxybenzone, homosalate, or parabens, toss it. These are endocrine disruptors and can affect hormone balance. Check out my website for skincare options that don’t damage your microbiome.
Look, we live in a world that actively thwarts our efforts to be healthy. But you have control. Your body, your microbes. You got this.