Our Personal Ecosytem - What is it?
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Antibiotics - Like Setting a Forest Fire to Kill Weeds!
Our Personal Ecosystem is Unique
To give an idea of how our bodies are infiltrated with “bugs,” also known as bacteria, viruses and “stowaways,” - if we were zapped by a device that would vaporize us, our shadow biosphere would remain. Our body has 10 times more “bugs” than we have cells. There are 150 times as many microbe genes as human genes.
DNA research has unearth a complete new world of microbial genome sequences and preliminary characterization of the human microbiome.
What is a Microbiome?
Microbiome is the total microbes - bacteria, viruses, and “stowaways” – found in a given area in, or on our bodies. Each place has a different microbiome. An example:microbes from five sites on the human body: nasal passages, oral cavities, skin, gastrointestinal tract, and urogenital tract.
Relationship between human health and changes in the human microbiome
The relationship of our unique ecosystems has on each of us is profound. We have specialized bugs/species that help digest foods. Diseases are associated with properties of the microbiome. The total environment provides the richness of the ecosystem. Individually, the properties of an individual species is not a concern.
There is an Obese Family of “Bugs”
Obesity is not a simple matter of eating too much food. Obesity is incredibly complex. The unnecessary use of antibiotics and the importance of limiting the use of antibiotics must be stressed. An example would be setting a forest fire to eliminate weeds... Clearly, changing our guts alone won't solve the entire problem. Scientists have found connections between certain kinds of microbial life and obesity.
When people eat a high calorie diet, their microbiome changes. Scientist have taken microbial life from an obese patient’s stomach and inserted into a thin person’s stomach. The thin person became obese. It is not known at this time the ramifications…
The Importance Of Limiting The Use Of Antibiotics
Antibiotics are flame throwers, they do not discriminate. They kill everything. An example, a person taking for one week an antibiotic has shown it took two years for their microbiome to regain its diversity. That means it took two years to recover from the onslaught of antibiotics!
Related Article:
http://dallas93444.hubpages.com/hub/Nice-Germs-Finish-Last
Another One:
http://dallas93444.hubpages.com/hub/Gene-Soup-the-DNA-Neighborhood-Makes-a-Difference
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femmeflashpoint,
As you know, we are a walking ecosystem. Microscopic bacteria live on us and inside us. Insects and spiders lurk about unseen. Most of the time we share our body harmoniously with these other inhabitants, a balanced ecological community.
Our bacteria pay their rent: individual bacterial cells break down carbohydrates for us that we are unable to metabolize, so that we can share in the feast. Other bacterial cells make essential vitamins like K and B12 that we cannot make for ourselves. At least as importantly, all these bacteria occupy a lot of space, crowding out any harmful bacteria that attempt to take up residence.
There are about 3.3 pounds of bacteria living in our gut, 100 trillion tiny individuals going about their microbial affairs without so much as a by-your-leave from us. There are at least 500 different species, although most are from one of two phyla, the Firmicutes and the Bacteroides.
From a bacterium’s point of view, our bodies are a vast framework within which its community thrives.
"Bugs R us," and we forgot our spoons!
Wow, now that's a powerful hub on the micro world we actually live in, I was a studious student back in high school & learned a great deal about the human genome, and micro-biology. Your take on the obesity issue was something I never heard of, but I will do my research on it all.
I love educative topics overall, my favorite subject in school was physics. AP Biology was something that came easy to me, I really scored high on my college exam for it all, so I can agree with you in every way on the fact that our physical make-up is full of much more then meets the eye. "Microbes are literally everywhere"
Voted up, & definitively Interesting, thanks for sharing
CloudExplorer,
I like your "CloudExplorer!" perhaps we are all CloudExplorers... We get to decide what is a "cloud!"
There is the possibility our personal ecosystems mirror our environment. Nature is scalable...
Perhaps each direction (not suggesting there are limitations - but reference points) from nano to macoro scale seems to be patterns... Most of them yet to be discovered. The Golden Ratio is an example. It is everwhere...
Thanks for the accolade and comments!
femmeflashpoint Level 7 Commenter 7 months ago
Dallas, great information and very interesting. Unfortunatly, for so many docs, the first thing to do for patients with an infection is start them on a round of antibiotics.
For external infections (and occasionally internal ones as well) I tend to lean towards using colloidal silver, or even aloe vera.
Regarding internal infections, I changed my diet last January. I got rid of the foods that increase acid levels for my blood type. I admit to having cheated, but rarely, and apparently it's worked.
I feel MUCH better, all the time, and I haven't had an infection since I made the change, internal or external.
Excellent article!