Right now, inside your gut, there’s thousands upon thousands of microorganisms. Pretty creepy, huh? But don’t worry. It’s a good thing. As more and more technology becomes available, we’ve been able to learn so much more about how our microbiome affects our health. Let’s start with how the microbiome helps us. According to a journal in the Journal of Nutrition, consuming a diet of high fiber aids Prevotella bacteria growth in your gut, which in turn aids in weight loss. That’s right, if you feed your gut bacteria healthy food, they’ll help you lose weight and maintain a healthy metabolism!
So stock up on all those high-fiber fruits and veggies, because it’s obvious that having healthy gut bacteria means a healthier you. But what would happen if instead of feeding these healthy gut microbiota, you eliminated them? Premature newborns are usually given antibiotics after birth, but according to a study from the Washington School of Medicine in St. Louis, good gut bacteria are eliminated when this happens, allowing more disease-carrying and antibiotic resistant bacteria to proliferate. Basically, this means you need that good bacteria in your gut, or else the bad stuff will take over and put you at risk later down the road. This is a good reason why we should be careful to not over-prescribe antibiotics, because we don’t want to be overtaken by mutant antibiotic-resistant gut bacteria. Totally messes with the whole healthy microbiome thing.
Where does this bacteria come from, though? Some of it you have acquired as soon as you are born. However, according to a CNN report, babies delivered via C-section miss out on some of the good microbiota that they would encounter had they passed through the vagina. More research needs to be done about how we can make up for this if a C-section delivery is medically necessary. It just goes to show how important our microbiome is! Do everything you can to promote your healthy guy bacteria today! Eat your fiber, and don’t take too many drugs (antibiotics).
Morgan's Microbiology 