Human Intestines Home to Trillions of Bacteria
Posted on April 15, 2005
New scientific research by scientists in Palo Alto, California, has found that the human intestines contain 395 bacteria strains that had never been discovered before. The research also found that the intestines are a home for trillions of bacteria. The Kansas City Star reports that there are so many colonies in your intestines that scientists have even referred to them as "Whovilles." The discovery could have major implications for the future of medicine as these bacteria probably play a significant role in an individual's health. Alternative medical experts have long suspected that good bacteria in the gut are important to people's overall health. The Kansas City Star writes:
Taken together, the bacteria in our guts contain 100 times more genes than our human cells do. The ecosystems they form are the densest known in nature. Our feces are about half bacteria by weight. Yet we know more about the microbes of the soil and the seas than we know about these intimate companions, said Lora Hooper, an immunologist at the University of Texas Southwest Medical Center. Gordon said the report, published Thursday in the online edition of the journal Science, is the first comprehensive inventory of a microbial community so vast that it is "mind-boggling." When the gut microbes are in balance, they help keep us well. Thrown out of balance, they may contribute to disease.You can refer to these microbes as your intestinal flora. They are so unique to you as individual that some doctors are calling them a "second human genome" -- which we need to understand before we can properly treat people for disease and illness.
More from Science Space & Robots
