Assessing Micro Biota

The relationship between the human gut microbiome to health and disease is strong. Human physiology, metabolism, nutrition, and immune function are all affected by the composition of the gut. If the composition of the gut microbiome is altered in a way that any of these functions are negatively affected, this can lead to disease. The developments of the microbiome, its complexity, and its functionality in health and disease have been extensively studied. In addition, the way in which it is altered has many implications in the cause of diseases, such as bowel disease, obesity, diabetes and cancer.

Gut microbiota is a complex community of micro-organism species that live within the digestive tract. It is the largest reservoir of micro-organisms mutual to both humans and animals. The Gut microbiome consist of as many as 1,000 types of bacteria. The microbiome also consists of as many as 10 times the amount of cells and roughly as many as 150 times as many genes as the human genome contains. The microbiome has a symbiotic relationship with its human host and it co-evolves. The gut microbiome is a finely tuned eco-system, but its development depends on a number of factors, such as:

There are major effects in the United States and Europe to help identify the role of microbial communities in the human body. The colon requires a balance of microbial agents that assist with various functions of the body. An imbalance can lead to C.diff., irritable bowel disease (IBD), irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), neurological disorders, and obesity just to list a few. Many of these problems have grown to an epidemic proportion. Both the United States and Europe have started projects aimed at the microbial communities of the body and their roles in our health.

Unique microbiota could suggest a human’s current health or if there is any forthcoming chronic disease (Ley, 2006). Families with shared healthy microbes may be able to help relatives who suffer from gastrointestinal disease; but the extant to which the microbiome is shared across generations is not readily known and more research is needed. The core trends for current research revolve around control of obesity, treatment of gastrointestinal diseases such as Crohn’s, and hormonal manipulation in cases of depression. It is imperative to learn to eat for optimal health, to evolve along with the commensals (Turner et al., 2013) as human diets influence diversity of microbes present (Ley et al., 2008). This is a relatively new field with exciting prospects of positive outcomes for some of society’s more chronic

The study intended to look at the gut microbiome that is naturally present within the gut. The research team of the Louisiana State University designed an experiment with lab rats to predict how the manipulation of the gut microbiome with a high fat diet would affect their brain

There are 10 microbial cells in the gut for every 1 human cells. When the human genome was sequences 25, 000 genes were identified. Compared to that there are 3.8 unique microbial gens in the human body. Humans are 99.9 % similar in our geneome but are only 60%

The use of the first form of microbe-based therapeutics, probiotics, is beneficial for preventing disease. These live microorganisms are known to strengthen the equilibrium of the gut flora by the development of healthy gut

Species composition of bacteria in the gut is highly personalised and mostly determined by environment and diet. The proportion of each species changes throughout life and the elderly have a significantly different microbiome. The introduction of antibiotics through the course of life alters the variation and presence of bacteria via elimination, altering the species richness and evenness of the microbiome.

The gut microbiota encompasses trillions of microorganisms that inhabit the gastrointestinal tract (Carding et al. 2015). The composition of the gut microbiota is constantly evolving and can be susceptible to both endogenous and exogenous modifications (Carding et al. 2015). The microbiota

The research in this article focuses on gut bacteria found in people from different cultures and how this can negatively impact us. At the end of the article, Zimmer explains that Americans, residing in a western society, have microbes in the gut that attack the body. He explains that this is because of the carbohydrates attacking the body when not given enough dietary fiber. This problem is not found in foraging cultures because of their seasonally changing food source which positively impacts their body. This is an important discovery of gut bacteria in western culture because now researchers can underscore the importance of dietary fiber in modern industrialized societies with enough evidence to back up their claims. This can also provide insight on how diets in western societies can adapt and change to improve the health and well-being of its people.

The human gut microbiota has become the subject of researches in recent years and our knowledge of the resident species and their potential functional capacity is rapidly growing. Our gut harbors a complex community of over 100 trillion microbial cells. Therefore, our gut microbiota evolves with us and plays a pivotal role in human health and disease. This has clear effects on physiologic, immunologic, and metabolic processes in human health, aberrations in the gut microbiome and intestinal homeostasis have the capacity for multisystem effects. Changes in microbial composition are implicated in the increasing for a broad range of inflammatory diseases, such as allergic disease, asthma, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), obesity, and associated

Over two-thirds of adults, or nearly 69 percent are considered overweight or obese. Of those, more than one-third are considered to be obese, while more than 1 in 20 are classified with extreme obesity.1 The main causes of these overwhelming rates of overweight and obesity are all too familiar: an unhealthy diet, a sedentary lifestyle and to a lesser extent perhaps genes play a role as well. In recent years, however, researchers have become increasingly focused on a potential additional contributor to the obesity epidemic that lives inside us all: billions and billions of gut microbes or microbiota.2

An offspring’s microbial composition is initially determined through maternal transmission in utero and during birth, however, after delivery, the microbiota is not fixed and may be changed by a multitude of environmental factors. The mode of delivery (vaginal or caesarean section), diet, and many other factors continue to play dynamic roles throughout an individual’s lifetime (Marques et al., 2010). Recent studies have indicated that maternal and neonatal nutrition significantly alter the epigenome of offspring, with the food consumed during pregnancy modulating the gut microbiota as well as the metabolites produced (Turnbaugh et al., 2009). Dietary intervention studies indicate that the diet sensitive nature of the gut persists throughout life, and that the gut microbiota often responds rapidly to changes in diet (Hullar & Fu, 2014). More specifically, dietary alterations modulate the exposure of the host to microbial metabolites (such as butyrate) which could have a multiplicity of epigenetic effects in the offspring (Duncan et al., 2007).

Physiological books—specifically those about the gut microbiota and the importance of the digestive system—took up the most rows in my mental library due to the fact that I can use their knowledge to positively impact countless lives, starting with the ones closest to home. I grew up allergic to pollen, dust, peanuts, oatmeal, and even penicillin. My mother has an issue with Helicobacter pylori in her stomach and cholesterol levels. My father is genetically predisposed towards high blood pressure. Through these books, I gained a better understanding of the biological human; specifically, I learned about how central the digestive system is to the body, not only by providing nutrients but also, through its resident bacteria, by regulating immune function. Through learning more about this expansive mass, I can help my loved ones change their lifestyle and dietary habits to improve their

Did you know that there are more than a thousand different types of different tiny organisms called microbiota living inside your digestive system? Most people are probably grossed out by that, but it’s actually a good thing. The organisms break down food that our bodies can’t so that we can get nutrients from it. The article Gut biogeography of the bacterial microbiota explains that there are a lot of factors that affect the lives of the microbiota inside our digestive system. What we eat is a big factor that affects how microbiota live. When we were babies and drank breast milk, our microbiota used the nutrients from the milk to outlive other bacteria that could have been harmful to us. Experiments done to prove this were called