Gut Microbiome Essay

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.

* Studies in mice, which also have large numbers of microbes living in their guts, have shown that there may be a link between storing energy as fat and microbial activity.

The gut microbiome supplies the human host with metabolic capabilities beyond those encoded by its own genome (Khan et al., 2014). Because host metabolism is effectively regulated by the amalgamation of host and microbial genes (Khan et al., 2014), we should expect the gut microbiota to play a fundamental role in the health of its host. A compendium of research evidence demonstrates a compelling link between obesity and gut microbial composition. The connection between obesity and the gut microbiota is illustrated in the effects of diet on microbial diversity, the association of host genotype with microbial plasticity, the correlation of microbial diversity and metabolic disease, and the modulation of host metabolism by gut

The gut microbiota is extremely diverse – consisting of over 1,000 identified unique species of bacteria. It is indeed difficult to wrap one’s head around it – despite bacteria being microscopically small, and having an undetectable mass, the bacteria of the gut in a human can weigh over 2 pounds! This incredibly diverse mass of bacteria is also mostly unique on an individual basis – over 70% of the bacteria per gut are unique to each person [1]. Thus, the gut microbiota of each individual can effectively function as a unique source of identity.

There are approximately 3.3 million genes (according to the European’s census of microbial genes) in the human digestive system. In comparison, it is about 150 times the count of 20,000-25,000 genes our own gene.

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.

The first group that was dropped into the water was the group of mice that did not have lactobacillus, when dropped into water they began to swim for a couple minutes but gave up after. The group with the lactobacillus was also dropped into the water and had the same start swimming but that group half of mice never gave up they just kept on swimming. The scientists figured out that items we eat do affect how our brain acts most of the time. The link between the intestinal microbes and he brain at that these could send signals to the brain and affect how the brain itself reacts to certain situations. Based on the studies discussed on the podcast the intestines also have roles in our psychological wellbeing, like in the studies the French did with the lactobacillus as well but on human being. Persons that had ingested the lactobacillus felt less stressed while the group that did not take the lactobacillus felt stressed. The podcast also talked about how this might be implemented in the future to treat patients with mental illness. This could me in a form of a “medicinal yogurt” or even medication. I thought this part of the podcast was interesting because most people including me don’t think that the “gut” can have any impact on a human beings mental health but this section

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

We know currently essential information about microbiomes to help us understand the human body a little better. The skin, mouth, esophagus, stomach, colon, gut, and vagina are composed of microbial communities. Collectively, the gut has the most information. Information pertaining to these body parts however, are limited simply because each individual is unique This makes each body just as unique as the person. (The Scientist Staff) It is in still in question whether we are functionally redundant between community members, and what kind of factors are influencing this. (Turnbaugh)

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

The Oxford English Dictionary defines a drug as, “a substance which has a physiological effect when ingested or otherwise introduced into the body” (“Drug,” 2016). Most would consider this definition too broad since simply ingesting food causes physiological changes in the body. However, most do not consider the multifarious ways in which the food that we eat affects our epigenetic gene expression, or the bi-directional signaling between our gut and our brains. The food that we eat is metabolized in the gut by micro-organisms which collectively form our microbiota. The 100 trillion prokaryotic cells that make up our microbiota, constitute 90% of the cells in our bodies, and are derived from more than 40,000 bacterial strains (Forsythe & Kunze, 2012). Increasingly, research is showing the importance of host microbiota composition and the bidirectional signaling pathways between the brain and the gut: some of which are epigenetic. These studies elucidate the profound impacts that signaling pathways, such as short-chain fatty acid mediated effects, nucleomodulins, and other bacterial metabolites, can have on health, behavior and cognition (Sommer & Backhed, 2013). It is now clear that diet-mediated epigenetic effects are important mechanisms in the etiology of numerous diseases (Choi & Friso, 2010). Furthermore, artificial drugs that can act on these epigenetic pathways could

The hippocampus, in the limbic system of the brain, controls long-term memory and emotions. With the high sugar diets, inflammation markers within the hippocampus increased, but the immunomodulatory gene expression decreased. The inflammation markers directly correlate with the decrease in memory on these high sugar diets. Memory deficiency happened within short term exposures of sugar to the diet. Rats tested showed lower exploration ratios than control rats. These animals fed "sugar for less than 2 weeks (showed) impaired hippocampal-dependent place recognition memory compared to control and PUFA fed rats." (Beilharz, Kaakoush, Maniam, and Morris, 2016, p. 309). Place recognition tests confirmed the effects on memory with the sugar fed group being considerably lower in their scores. Sugar was the factor that proved to be "crucial for the memory deficits." (Beilharz et al., 2016, p. 309). The gut microbiome also has significant effects on emotions. Depression and anxiety, including anhedonic-like behaviors were found in direct relation to the sugar intake.

The good gut microbes are a powerful line of defense against pathogens and germs and also prevent the overgrowth of harmful microbes such as bacteria, yeasts and parasites, making healthy bacteria vital for a strong immune system.

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

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