Bacteria control people's consciousness: the worlds inside us. Gut microbiome: the world within us Whole grains and other sources of fiber

Microbiota or microbiome is a concept that is increasingly becoming part of our everyday life. Until recently, doctors used such a concept as intestinal microflora, and today, according to authoritative scientists, it is outdated. We live in a unique time when major scientific discoveries are made regularly. Thanks to this, we can better understand the processes that occur in our body. It's time to talk about the importance of bacteria for human health. Many will be surprised to learn that microbes can influence our mood and habits.

A revolution in views on microorganisms. Was Robert Koch wrong?

Although the ideas of some scientists resemble the plot of a science fiction novel, we must admit that microbiology today is experiencing a real flourishing. Her discoveries are likely to have a major impact on the future medicine and pharmaceuticals. In recent years there has been revolution in views on the role of microbes, which has gone unnoticed by the wider public. Let's say a few words about the concept created by the founding fathers of microbiology, Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch. They suggested that infection was the basis of a number of diseases, and therefore microbes were what needed to be fought.

Thanks to these ideas, many epidemics were defeated. Eg, Robert Koch discovered the anthrax bacillus, tuberculosis bacillus, and Vibrio cholerae, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1905. He, along with his assistant Julius Petri, also invented a method for cultivating microbes in a special laboratory vessel (Petri dish).

Over the past 30 years, scientists have come to two very important conclusions. Firstly, the number of microbes that can be grown in a Petri dish is a small part of the total number of microorganisms that populate the human body. And secondly, the thesis about total harmfulness of microbes for a person. In addition to truly dangerous microorganisms, we are constantly accompanied by those that help us live, be strong and healthy. This is what a person is.

How geneticists helped microbiologists. Microbiota plays the role of an endocrine organ

The rapid development of molecular genetics and computer science has allowed us to look at bacteria differently. At their junction, genomics appeared - a science that studies genes and genomes. So how genetics helped microbiologists? Here we need to mention the international research project “The Human Genome Project” (HGP), which started in 1986. At that time, a group of scientists from the United States decided to establish the complete sequence of human DNA. If anyone doesn’t know, the genome is the collection of genes of a particular organism.

The creators of the project decided to test their methods on something simple, for example, on the bacteria that inhabit our body. Then it became clear that their number is simply huge, and most of them are in the intestines. The body of a 90 kg person contains 3 kg of bacteria. There are already voices of scientists who call this accumulation of bacteria part of our body. If this concept is correct, then it is microbes -largest human organ, and not at all the brain or heart, as is commonly thought. Why microbiota can be considered an organ, we will describe in detail below.

In addition, it turned out that microbes enter into various interactions with our body, often positive. It turns out that metabolism is largely ensured by enzymes produced by microbes. Moreover, they depend our habits, taste preferences, behavior and even mood.

From the point of view of microbiology, it is now possible to explain why food prepared at home seems tastier to many than anywhere else. The fact is that members of the same family have similar bacteria. The baby also absorbs “family” microorganisms with mother’s milk. Roughly speaking, it is not each specific family that has certain taste preferences, but the microbes that inhabit this family inside.

Another important aspect in cooperation microbiology and genomics- identification of microbes responsible for intestinal health. Scientists and doctors are trying to ensure that the microbiota is in an active state. Much has now been achieved in this direction. It is no coincidence that amazing technologies have been developing in the United States for 30 years - the transfer of bacteria from a healthy person to a sick person. This includes such, to put it mildly, exotic type of therapy as fecal transplantation.

The development of computer science and genetics has made it possible to study the genetic structure of microorganisms. Thanks to this, scientists can compare the DNA sequence of microbes from a sick and healthy person. Genomics has also established that it is possible to take swabs to study bacteria from any part of the body.

Why do we need the concept of human microbiota?

As views on the influence of bacteria changed, a need for new terminology arose. Therefore, modern science has formulated the concept microbiome or microbiota. So, human microbiome is a community of microorganisms, a kind of internal ecosystem. It is influenced by many factors, such as diet, intestinal diseases, and medications.

Microbiota is the totality of all human bacteria, and they are found in almost the entire body. But there are only five places in our body that bacteria are especially fond of: the intestines, skin, respiratory tract, oral cavity, and genitourinary system. At the same time, most microbiome at person concentrated in the intestines.

On average, the body of each adult contains 2 - 3 kg of bacteria, and their number is truly enormous - it is ten times greater than the number of our own cells. Given recent discoveries in microbiology, the expression “rich inner world” can be taken literally.

Microbes and people: an ancient alliance for survival

Scientists believe that germs and people We've come a long way together. It's probably very ancient alliance. It's about co-evolution. Having studied some species of monkeys, or rather their bacteria, microbiologists identified a gene that is found in the DNA of the intestinal bacteria of all primates, including humans. Biologists suggest that our common ancestor had a small set of bacteria, including one that turns on the discovered gene. It took about 15 million years for primates to develop the modern diversity of microbes. It has been established that different species of monkeys have their own bacteria.

In essence, people and microbiota are a symbiosis of two forms of life. This one has ancient union quite clear explanation: microbes need habitat and food, and the human body is ideal for this. In addition, during the course of evolution, these two worlds learned to “agree” with each other. Eg, bacteria affect the immune cells of the intestinal walls in such a way that they are slightly reduced. This is probably why children who grew up without a mother and her bacteria are more likely to develop various types of allergies and autoimmune diseases.

It is now clear to scientists that microbes Act on of people in two ways: some of them help the body function, while others destroy it.

The intestine as an endocrine organ. Does your mood depend on bacteria?

The microbes that inhabit the digestive system are of particular importance to health. They act on the intestinal wall with the help of special substances, while affecting our brain. When scientists examined the chemical composition of these compounds, they were amazed. It turned out that bacteria produce analogues of our own hormones: serotonin, testosterone, norepinephrine, dopamine, histamine. They also highlight various enzymes and proteins.

An amazing fact is that our mood can depend on how our gut microbiota works. It turned out that microbes are able to synthesize benzodiazepines, which have a sedative effect and are similar in formula to phenazepam. And this is not the entire list of substances studied human microbiome continues. Thus, we can say that the intestines are an additional endocrine organ. This intestinal function is formed from birth, when the baby receives all the beneficial bacteria it needs through mother's milk. Therefore, thoughtless use of medications is unacceptable, especially for children.

Sports bacteria - myth or reality?

Scientists at Harvard University are studying the influence of microbes on athletic performance. Sounds incredible, doesn't it? After studying the microbiome of rowers and runners, they came to the conclusion that there are bacteria responsible for endurance, rapid recovery and mental toughness. Experts have also found that a certain type of activity forms a specific microbiota. They are sure that there are so-called sports bacteria.

Jonathan Sheiman, a fellow at the university's School of Medicine, and his assistants studied stool samples taken from 20 runners who participated in the Boston Marathon. At the same time, samples were taken before and after the race. As a result, it turned out that after the competition the athletes had more microorganisms of a certain type. It has long been known that there are bacteria that can process lactic acid. And as we know, this acid is an indispensable companion of catabolic processes and is produced during active physical activity. "Sports bacteria" They just help the body cope with sore throat, relieving muscle pain.

Scientists were also interested in how different the microbiota is among representatives of different sports. They compared the microbes living in the bodies of ultramarathon runners and rowers. In the body of the first, many bacteria were found that are responsible for processing of carbohydrates and fiber, which helps to cover long distances.

Scientists suggest that based on the discovered microorganisms it will be possible to create dietary supplements so that athletes can achieve better results.

Activity in old age is a matter of bacteria

Another interesting study was conducted by employees of the Emory University School of Medicine in the USA. They believe that they have found a way to help people save . Most of the work was done by pathology and laboratory medicine professor Daniel Kalman.

The scientist and his assistants paid special attention to the bacteria of the gastrointestinal tract that produce indoles. These aromatic substances are obtained during the breakdown amino acid tryptophan, have the smell of cabbage. These compounds are widely used in perfumery and pharmaceuticals. By the way, the closest relative of indoles is the hormone auxin, which helps plants develop better.

Conducting experiments on roundworms (nematodes), the professor discovered that indoles help them get sick less often. During the experiment, some worms were fed bacteria that could produce indoles, and others - ordinary. Kalman managed to achieve a special effect in experience with older worms. Usually they move little, eat poorly, get sick, and at elevated temperatures in the room they immediately die.

Once they received beneficial bacteria, their activity increased significantly. Also, these worms aged slower than their counterparts and readily consumed food and tolerated heat well. At the same time, the nematodes retained the ability to reproduce 2.4 times longer compared to the control group. Mice and Drosophila flies responded to these bacteria in a similar way. It turns out that activity in old age largely depends on how healthy the microbiota is.

Herbal medicine is a promising area of ​​medicine. Why are metronidazole and vancomycin dangerous?

Taking into account new facts about the benefits bacteria for human health, then it becomes clear that drug treatment is not always optimal. No doubt in the future prevention will become a powerful tool of people in white coats. Therefore, modern herbal medicine - promising direction of medicine.

You need to understand that any potent medicine has side effects. As a rule, the following organs are affected: liver, kidneys, heart. It is no coincidence that the World Health Organization has called for the use of antibiotics only in the most extreme cases. Of course, first of all, this is caused by the influenza virus’s immunity to a number of drugs. But there is another reason for this WHO appeal to the population.

The fact is that disruption of the intestinal microbiota- This is a serious threat to health and life. In a number of countries where antibiotics are frequently used metronidazole and vancomycin, the incidence of diarrhea caused by the intestinal bacterium Clostridium difficile has increased. The scientific name for this digestive system disorder is pseudomembranous enterocolitis. Every year in the United States, 250 thousand people are hospitalized because of this disease, and 14 thousand die. The reason is that it is quite difficult to restore the imbalanced balance of bacteria in the intestines.

In light of modern scientific evidence, we can take a new look at what constitutes phytotherapy. As mentioned above, antibiotics kill the intestinal microbiota, and this reduces the production of hormones by bacteria. Thus, we deprive ourselves of additional endocrine organ, which is especially dangerous in old age. The use of plants as medicine helps to avoid this. Herbs gently act on the intestinal walls, preserve our microbiome, and eliminate the cause of the disease.

It is quite possible that the valuable effect of many herbs occurs precisely due to the work of intestinal bacteria. Therefore the value herbal medicine will only grow in the coming years. Doctors- herbalists We are sure that the intestines can take from the plant everything that the body needs, and then direct the resulting substances to the diseased organ. That is why the Parapharm company has taken the path of using such technology as cryotreatment. It should be noted that the production of dietary supplements from medicinal plants using cryoprocessing technology allows the use of plant fiber, which acts as a natural prebiotic for intestinal microflora. Thus, medicinal herbs benefit the entire body. Thanks to it, ours retain the maximum amount of biologically active substances. By choosing our company's products, you take a step towards healthy longevity!

There is a joke - to make it easier for bacteria to live, they grew themselves a human. It’s funny, but, as always, in every joke there is only a fraction of a joke, but the truth is that there is not so much of a person in a person, even less than half.

57% of the cells in the human body do not carry human DNA, but belong to a variety of bacteria, fungi, and generally scary to imagine. However, it’s too early to get scared - this whole structure (which is called the microbiome) normally lives in symbiosis with a person happily ever after, and the richer the variety of microbes inside us, the healthier we are.

The more bacteria the better

In particular, it has been repeatedly proven that the diversity of microbes in a person with depression is, on average, less than in a healthy person. It is likely that the same relationship exists for autism and some neurodegenerative diseases. The Japanese once found out that the more different microbes there are in the ear, the less susceptible its owner is to otitis media.

It remains to figure out how to organize this “more”, because if the lack of intestinal microbes has already been tried to be treated with a stool transplant, and even successfully for some diseases (such as diarrhea), then with the ear it is not very clear what exactly and how to transplant.

Once again, the importance of microbiome diversity was confirmed by an experiment recently conducted in Japan (again!). Scientists raised a group of mice that had no germs inside them at all. The animals grew up in a sterile environment. These rodents were exposed to stress along with another group of mice, completely identical to the first with one exception: these grew up in a normal environment with all its microbial joys.

It turned out that the first group of animals experienced stress, which was 2 times stronger than that of the second - this was precisely the difference in the concentration of released hormones. So you start to think: is it really worth taking away a shoe and a cat from a crawling child?

Parkinson's, heart attack and female impressionability

Perhaps it’s easier to say what it doesn’t affect, because the further scientists delve into this topic, the more they are convinced that the microbial component of a person is involved in all spheres of his life, and who is ultimately in charge here, the person or his microbes, microbes or their people - it’s not clear at all.

For example, let's take emotions. An experiment was conducted in the USA in which two groups of women with different microbiome compositions participated (in one case, Bacteroides, in a different - Prevotella). Firstly, the brain structure of women from these groups was slightly different; the former, judging by the images, processed information better, while the latter were more emotionally sensitive. When the participants were shown various pictures, the group Prevotella I perceived those that carried a negative message more sharply.

Another aspect: cardiovascular diseases, the leading cause of death in the world, by the way. One of the indicators of the health of the heart and blood vessels is the elasticity of the latter. In the UK, they studied the medical data of 617 middle-aged women and saw that those who had more good and different microbes according to tests also had better blood vessels.

In those who could not boast of a variety of bacteria, fungi, viruses and archaea, the walls of the blood vessels were more rigid. Experts became interested in which microorganisms are responsible for the elasticity of blood vessels, and discovered that the same microbes had previously appeared in another study - concerning obesity.

Another example: Parkinson's disease. With it, the microbiome changes very much - although, it would seem, the disease only affects the brain (the cells that control the muscles die off, which is where the characteristic tremor appears), and what do microbes have to do with it?

However, during the next experiments on mice, experts from the USA showed that if the microbiome of patients with Parkinson’s disease is transplanted into mice genetically predisposed to pathology, the condition of the rodents becomes significantly worse than when the microbiome of a healthy person is transplanted.

The list can be endless. What science now knows about the microbiome, even if it is a drop in the ocean, confirms the exceptional importance of the role of microbes in our health. If people learn to operate with the microbiome, perhaps we will no longer need many medications.

Ksenia Yakushina

Photo istockphoto.com

Ecology of knowledge. Educational: Scientists are only now beginning to understand how great the role of microorganisms living inside humans is (Richard Conniff)

Scientists are only now beginning to understand how important the role of microorganisms living inside humans is.

Richard Conniff

Pediatrician Barbara Warner will never forget this couple. Before entering the clinic, the couple tried in vain to have children for many years, and then, in 1997, Dr. Warner’s patient finally became pregnant. She was then about forty-five years old. “It was her last chance,” Warner explains. And so, soon two twins were born. Unfortunately, the first died as a result of a severe form of asphyxia, at that time the most common killer of premature babies.

A week later, right on Thanksgiving Day, Warner swaddled the second, surviving twin and... even now the doctor recalls with horror what she saw: severe redness (erythema) and bloating.

Diagnosis: necrotizing enterocolitis (abbreviated NEC). Few people have ever heard of this disease outside of neonatal intensive care units; necrotizing enterocolitis is bacterial in nature and is characterized by sudden and rapidly developing inflammation of the intestine.

During an operation on the baby's stomach, the surgeon saw the following picture: the entire intestinal tract - from the stomach to the rectum - did not function at all. The baby was doomed. After the operation, Dr. Warner, shedding tears, returned the newborn to his grief-stricken parents, unable to help them.

“It's been 15 years since then and nothing has changed,” Warner concludes grimly, walking past the plastic incubators where her tiny patients lie, wrapped in tubes and receiving baths in mild ultraviolet light. Necrotizing enterocolitis is still one of the main killers of premature babies. However, the situation may soon change, thanks to new knowledge about nature and human activity.

Over the past few years, advances in the field of genetic engineering have opened a window into the amazing, densely populated, invisible to our eyes, but of great importance for humans, world of microorganisms that live inside and around us - the world of bacteria, fungi and viruses.

Scientists call it the "microbiome". “Big science” took up the study of the microbiome, involving an international community of scientists in the research, using advanced DNA sequencing technology and huge databases, the processing of which only supercomputers can handle. Microbiome research marks a major breakthrough that medicine has not made for one hundred and fifty years; Scientists now understand that microbes can be not only enemies of humans, but also their allies.

The question raised in the article is quite delicate. At Dr. Warner's St. Louis Hospital NICU, scientists studying necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) have analyzed virtually every diaper and swaddle wrapped in premature newborns admitted to the facility over the past three years.

Scientists do not set themselves the task, as was previously the case in the history of medicine, to necessarily identify some particular pathogen, some “virus killer” or bacteria. Instead, says Philip Tarr, a pediatric gastroenterologist at the University of Washington and a colleague of Dr. Warner's, scientists want to learn how to control the balance of microflora, and to do this, study the vital functions of the hundreds of types of microorganisms that inhabit the intestines of newborns.

Scientists want to find out under what conditions necrotizing enterocolitis develops, and perhaps for the first time in the history of medicine they will be able to offer doctors working in neonatal intensive care units recommendations on how to prevent this deadly disease.

Earlier this year, one group of researchers found that secretions produced by certain beneficial microbes appear to be able to prevent necrotizing enterocolitis from progressing to the stage that leads to death. Thus, it is likely that doctors will soon be able to understand the causes of NEC, about which little is known today, and finally take preventive measures.

Today, doctors and biologists have begun to pay increased attention to the study of the microbiome, as it forces us to take a fresh look at the problem of NEC and better understand the essence of human nature. For example, we tend to think that a person is only that collection of cells from which the human body is built; the number of these cells exceeds ten trillion. But to this figure we must add another 100 trillion cells that make up the microorganisms that a person harbors in his body. It turns out that the living creature that each of us sees in the mirror in the morning consists of only 10 percent of cells that belong to the person himself.

Even more impressive is the data on the weight of microorganisms living in humans: in total, in an adult, it is about three pounds (almost the same weight as the human brain). Now let's move on to genes: there are approximately 21 thousand of them in the human body. To this figure we must add almost eight million genes that make up the microorganisms that inhabit the human body, many of which help us digest food, strengthen the immune system, “turn on” and “turn off” our genes - in a word, help us live.

How can one recall the famous statement of the English poet John Donne: “No man is an island, closed in on itself, every man is a piece of the continent, a particle of a single whole.” And I also remember a line in one of the songs of the old American rock band Jefferson Airplane: “He is a peninsula.” In fact, in our case we should be talking about a hefty metropolis.

The beginning of the microbiome era can be counted from the late 1990s, when David Relman, an infectious disease specialist at Stanford University, decided to obtain a sample of the microflora that inhabited his oral cavity. The procedure is simple: the dentist passes a cotton swab behind the cheek and takes a swab from the surface of the teeth or gums. There seems to be nothing on the cotton swab (but, according to one dentist, “faith in the invisible should be extremely strong”).

After this, the samples taken are sent to the laboratory for cultivation in a Petri dish and those microorganisms that feel good there are identified. Rillman proposed a bold idea - to analyze DNA using the sequencing method. Since then, the cost of sequencing has fallen, and testing swab samples taken from various parts of the human body for DNA analysis has become commonplace in studying the microbiome.

In a laboratory setting, each smear sample is placed into one of 96 cells located on a small plastic plate. After a series of manipulations, the samples enter a device called a sequencer, which looks somewhat like an ATM and a minibar at the same time.

The information that the sequencer gives us is impressive: it turned out that the microflora of the human oral cavity includes more than 1000 species of microorganisms; at the same time, 150 species live in the area located behind the auricle; on the inside of the forearm there are 440 species, and in the intestine there are several thousand of them.

In fact, microflora is present in almost all areas of the human body. In total, there are more than 10 thousand species of them in the human body. Their number varies depending on which part of the body we are considering; In this sense, according to microflora specialist Rob Knight from the University of Colorado, the differences in the number of microorganisms inhabiting the oral cavity and intestines are even greater than the differences between the temperatures of hot water and polar ice.

For example, according to a 2010 study, the number of microorganisms living on the right and left hands is only 17 percent of the total number of all microorganisms inhabiting the human body.

But the most interesting thing is that the community of microorganisms living in the human body greatly influences a person’s lifestyle and even his way of thinking and perception. Recent research has established links between changes in the microbiome and some of the most common diseases, including obesity, allergies, diabetes, gut dysfunction and even mental illnesses such as autism, schizophrenia and depression.

Last year, for example, scientists were able to establish the following facts:

• the tendency to be overweight in those babies who were exposed to antibiotics in the first six months of life is 22 percent higher than in those babies who did not experience such exposure; it is possible that the reason here is that antibiotics are destructive to microorganisms necessary for human life.
• The absence of beneficial microflora in the intestines of rodents at an early age leads to a disorder of the central nervous system and can continuously change the level of serotonin in the brain of an adult. Scientists suggest that the same thing happens in the human body.
• According to a study conducted in Malawi, solving the problem of hunger among children requires not only the availability of food, but also the presence of the “right” microorganisms in the child’s gut.

Researchers cannot yet determine with certainty whether changes in the microbiome influence the environment or, conversely, the environment leads to changes in the microbiome. And yet, the scientific community has begun to pay increased attention to studying the relationships between the microbiome and the environment in which it exists.

In particular, the first results of the $173 million Human Microbiome Project, conducted under the auspices of the National Institutes of Health, were published last June. The goal of this project is to create a detailed map of the microflora inhabiting the body of three hundred healthy volunteers.

Doctors equate this project to the discovery in the human body of another, hitherto unknown, organ or another previously unknown vital system. According to one article published in this year's January issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology, scientists have discovered “another key” that will help “open the proverbial black box” that determines human health and disease.

Even non-specialists now know about the microbiome, especially after several years ago researchers from the University of Washington established a link between obesity and the quality of intestinal microflora. It turned out that Firmicutes bacteria predominated in the intestines of overweight mice, while Bacteroidetes predominated in the intestines of lean mice.

During the experiment, both groups of mice were kept on the same diet, but it turned out that mice whose intestines were dominated by Firmicutes bacteria extracted more calories and accumulated more fat. The same thing happened in the human body. Now it’s clear why many overweight people sometimes complain that they get fat, so to speak, just from the smell of food that their thin friends eat without any problems.

Such experiments have generated great enthusiasm for the human microbiome, which was previously viewed with a certain amount of disgust by most scientists. It would be as if readers suddenly fell in love with Gulliver's Travels just because of one passage in which Jonathan Swift portrays a student who was working on turning human excrement back into the nutrients from which it was formed.

This winter, two competing projects invited enthusiasts to take feces, as well as swabs from the oral cavity and from the surface of the skin, for analysis. Each project received more than $300,000 in voluntary donations (the average donation is $100). The first project, run by the Knight Laboratory at the University of Colorado and called “American Gut,” involves leading American scientists.

The project offered customers a $99 “human gut bacteria ecosystem map” that was named one of the top ten holiday gifts by Prevention magazine. (And for romantic couples, a package called “Microbes for Two” was offered for $189, which included the right to test stool samples from both partners or their dogs.)

The second project, called uBiome, developed the idea of ​​“people's science,” so to speak. Participants were asked to formulate hypotheses for experimental testing, for example: “How does alcohol consumption affect the human microbiome?” “What effect does a vegetarian diet have on the microbiome?”

After project co-organizer Villa Ludington's baby was born in December, the father began performing daily stool tests on his newborn son, Dylan, to answer the question: "How is the microflora that colonizes the infant's gut during the first year of life inherited?"

Venture capitalists have also become enthusiastic about the microbiome. To date, they have already invested in at least four new projects to develop promising drugs and diagnostics targeting the microbiome.

Peter DiLaura, chief executive of Second Genome, a San Francisco-based company, has already invested about $10 million in a project that could begin clinical trials of drugs to treat these common diseases within three years. diseases such as ulcerative colitis, the cause of which is most likely a change in the microbiome. (By the way, the slogan of the Second Genome company is: “The most important genome for the human body may not be of human origin.”)

As we can see, the plans look optimistic, especially if we remember that the studies of the human genome that began at the time, contrary to expectations, practically did not lead to the emergence of any new treatment methods. But, at least theoretically, they should help find ways to manipulate individual groups of microorganisms.

Some major pharmaceutical companies that are working to address the problem of diabetes and obesity have established research units dedicated to microbiome research. In addition, major toothpaste and mouthwash manufacturers are already investing in the development of microbiological methods to combat caries.

But beyond the creation of commercial products, the very ability to map the human microbiome can already bring enormous benefits to medicine. Research shows that each person has a unique microflora that is unique to them. Differences between the characteristics of an individual's microflora depend on the characteristics of his individual diet, family composition, medical history, national and regional differences, as well as many other factors - all of which play a role to one degree or another.

For example, the human intestine may be inhabited by certain bacteria that can generally alter the therapeutic effects of certain medications, to the point that microorganisms can neutralize drugs such as acetaminophen (a component of the pain reliever Tylenol).

Currently, doctors sometimes have to take a long time to select a medicine that could really help the patient. However, if you study the patient’s individual microbe, then in this case the selection of the drug will undoubtedly speed up. However, some experts believe that enthusiasm for the microbiome is just another fad that only promises mountains of gold. published

“Dietetic” hit of recent years - paleo diet. The basic principle is simple: let's eat the same foods that our distant ancestors from the Stone Age (2.6 million - 10 thousand years BC) consumed before the invention of agriculture. Why on earth? A person's genes develop much more slowly than their brain. By and large, today they are the same as in that distant era when people were hunters and gatherers. If so, then modern food is absolutely not suitable for us. But our bodies are much more flexible than “paleo dieters” believe. After all, the “Stone Age diet” does not take into account an important factor: microbiome.

The microbiome is a community of trillions of bacteria that live in our gastrointestinal tract. It weighs about 1.4 kg - almost the same as the brain. There are a lot of bacteria - in numbers they outnumber living human cells in the ratio 9 to 1. The creator of the microbiome diet, the doctor, jokingly says that people are just “bacteria in suits.”

And there are more bacterial genes than human ones, 150 (!) times. Often the influence of bacterial genes on our daily lives is even more significant than in the case of the “native” genome.

When the microbiome is balanced, we have a very powerful ally. Thanks to “happy” microbes, the body remains healthy, digestion remains good, and thinking remains clear. If the balance is disturbed, the consequences will not be long in coming - brain fog, depression, anxiety, skin problems and insomnia, obesity, diabetes, cancer will or may become your companions in life...

The microbiome approach differs from the paleo diet in the main thing - speed. Yes, human genes don't change that fast (though faster than most orthodox Paleo proponents think). But the population of the microbiome, which is extremely important for us, changes very quickly - within just one day!

“The life cycle of one microbe is only 20 minutes. This is quite enough for your entire microbiome to change its composition.” (Rafael Kelman).

Along with the composition, genes also change. You might wake up on Monday with one set of microbiome genes and then wake up with another on Tuesday.

The microbiome population is influenced by many factors: environment, exercise, sleep, stress. But the most important thing is nutrition.

“The way you eat determines which microbes inside you live happily and which ones die out and disappear.”

Proponents of the paleo diet have thus turned everything upside down. It's not that our genes programmed us to eat only a certain diet. Quicker, our diet “programs” our microbiome — and his (very important for us) genes.

Experiment

In 2011, scientists from Harvard And Duke University conducted a very interesting study. Volunteers were offered two radically different diets. Participants from the first group ate food high protein: bacon, eggs, pork ribs, brisket, salami, cheese and cracklings. The second group ate a lot of fiber- fruits, vegetables, grains and beans. Bacterial analysis of the excreta showed a large - and almost immediate - effect of diet on gut bacteria in both groups.

The production of the types of bacteria that would help digest the types of food that people just ate began. In just 24 hours, the “meat eaters” received an increased dose of bacteria resistant to bile acids (a product produced during the digestion of meat). If you are a meat eater, you cannot do without such bacteria, and the microbiome reacted accordingly. The “vegetarians” from the second group had much less such bacteria - since there was no need for them.

This “flexibility” of the microbiome explains why our body adapts so quickly to almost any food. Human genes have nothing to do with it; we don’t need to point at their slowness. Nature has given man an excellent survival mechanism that helps him get used to a wide variety of diets.

"Microbiome" products

Followers of the paleo diet are sure: people are not able to “digest” grains; Moreover, they are the cause of many diseases. Dr. Kelman disagrees: Whole grains prevent cardiovascular disease, obesity and diabetes. The positive effect is also evident because fiber from cereals nourishes the microbiome.

Now - the most interesting part. What foods are “good” for the microbiome? Kelman writes that the diet tailored to the microbiome is quite diverse. You don't need to eat that much meat—your microbiome doesn't need 55% of your daily calorie intake, as paleo dieters suggest. According to the latest scientific data, meat products in large quantities harms to our bacteria. Typical Western foods - refined flour, sugar, unhealthy fats, additives, preservatives and artificial colors - must also disappear from the diet.

In its turn, an abundance of fresh, natural vegetables, fruits, legumes and whole grains- something that will bring your microbiome into indescribable delight. Asparagus, carrots, garlic, Jerusalem artichoke, sweet potato, onion, leek, radish, tomato- this is what should be on your table as often as possible. A very good addition to the diet - fermented food (Korean cabbage kimchi, our native sauerkraut, pickles, kefir). These are natural probiotics stimulating the growth of friendly bacteria. You can also take probiotics in their “pharmacy” variation- capsules, powders, etc.

Cover of the book “The Microbiome Diet” by R. Kelman

The microbiome theory explains how people feel well across a wide range of diets. For example, you can be a vegetarian who consumes huge amounts of grains and legumes - in the paleo diet, these foods are considered almost diabolical - and feel “at 100”. Or eat high-quality, fresh food with moderate portions of chicken and fish, small “sprinkles” of beef or lamb - and also feel very good. The details don't matter. The most important thing is to support your little buddies within yourself.

“Thanks to recent research, we know that we are not the only ones who eat the food we eat. In fact, the first people to get it on their table are the microorganisms that live in our digestive tract. These small bacteria interact with every organ and system, including the brain, immune and hormonal systems, and influence the expression of genes, largely determining our health, appearance and even food preferences. Maintaining a healthy microbiome is necessary for both prevention and treatment of existing health problems - gastrointestinal diseases, obesity, autoimmunity, food sensitivity, hormonal disorders, excess weight, infections, depression, autism and many others. In this article, I will tell you how our dietary choices affect our gut microbiota, and therefore our health.”
Yulia Maltseva, a nutritionist and expert on intestinal and microbiome health, will speak on November 10 at.

Microbiome and healthy longevity

The greatest influence on microbial representation in the intestines is exerted by dietary style. Not all the food we consume is suitable for the life and prosperity of “good” bacteria. They feed on special plant fibers called prebiotics.

It has been proven thatpolyphenols increase the number of bifidobacteria and lactobacilli in the intestinal microflora, while reducing the number of potentially harmful clostridia bacteria.

Main conclusions:

• the addition of natural sources of polyphenols - fruits, vegetables, tea, cocoa and wine - contributes to the formation of healthier microbes.

Editorial opinion may not reflect the views of the author.
In case of health problems, do not self-medicate, consult your doctor.

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