Biology, health: gut bacteria, part 1

Self-tutoring about health: the tutor begins about gut bacteria.

The following is according to my understanding.

I’ve been hearing about gut bacteria for years. When I was in school I was taught that gut bacteria can help digest food and even release helpful products in consequence. Therefore, it was important to have those bacteria living in the gut. If followed that antibiotics were to be used only when needed, because they had the potential to kill off the gut bacteria.

I was under the impression – perhaps wrongly – that the “correct” bacteria would always populate the gut. It never occurred to me that if beneficial bacteria could establish there, then harmful bacteria could as well.

Lately, however, I’ve come to realize there is perhaps much more to know about gut microorganisms than I had previously believed. Gut flora might be a better term than gut bacteria, since the microorganisms in the gut include fungi, protozoans, and viruses besides bacteria. Bacteria predominate there, however, making up about 70% of the entities living in the gut.

Apparently, the bacteria in the gut, depending on what kind they are, can produce molecules that promote appetite, or else suppress it. Moreover, some bacteria that might be found in the gut can produce molecules that will make the host anxious.

Such is just the start of my research about gut bacteria. From what I’ve read so far, one might begin to suspect that accomplishing a beneficial suite of gut bacteria – and maintaining them – is an important health concern.

Source:

nih.gov