Introduction to the gut microbiome

Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much. - Helen Keller

Although Ms Keller wasn’t thinking about our gut microbiome when she spoke these words, it is certainly true of us and our hundred trillion gut passengers! This collaboration of human and microbes is called mutualism – all parties benefit from the arrangement.

In addition to our gut microbiome, we carry these handy passengers on and in various other body parts, and even the placenta and amniotic fluid are colonised by microbes. The first year of a baby’s life sees the maturation of their gut microbiome, and by the time they’re three years old, this microbiome is all grown up. Our adult gut microbiome is defined by a variety of factors, including initial colonisation, genetics, gut development, what we eat, and our environment.

Advances in technology means that we can now assess our gut microbiota in a way that wasn’t possible before, but how do we interpret it? [flashing warning signs here] The short, if unsatisfying, answer is “It depends.” (With a large side-order of “We don’t know, yet.”) Some of our microbial passengers are beneficial in some ways and detrimental in others, and the role they play in health is complicated by the individuality of each person’s microbiome, which is shaped by environment, lifestyle, ethnicity, geographic location, diet, and use of medication.

What we do know is that our gut microbiome affects our health and is affected by it. As our technological ability allows us to investigate our gut microbiomes in the minutest detail, we will, hopefully, improve our ability to make sense of what our gut “passenger list” is telling us.

Entranced or flummoxed? Stay tuned for the next #gutscience by #SmartHerbals instalment.

#sciencefacts #colonhealth #SmartBiotech

sources: Gritz EC and Bhandari V. (2015) Frontiers in Pediatrics 3: 17. Shanahan F, Ghosh TS, O’Toole PW. (2020) Gastroenterology 160:483–494.

Image source - Adobe Stock - Artur

Bonus content

Curious about Antonie van Leeuwenhoek’s “dierken” (translated to “animalcules” by Henry Oldenburg, Secretary of the Royal Society)?

“I then most always saw, with great wonder, that in the said matter there were many very little living animalcules, very prettily a-moving.”

Bonus facts about the “Father of Microbiology”: Van Leeuwenhoek initially produced microscopes to study the fabric he sold and was so secretive about his methods, his technique died with him. Despite the custom of the day, wrote his letters to the Royal Society in colloquial Dutch. Quite the singular gentleman!