The importance of gut flora

Some say that you are the average of 5 of your friends. This may be true in social and financial status. When it comes to health, you may be whom you invite to live with. I am talking about microbes that live on your body.

Wikipedia put it this way about the gut flora: “The human body, consisting of about 100 trillion cells, carries about ten times as many microorganisms in the intestines. The metabolic activities performed by these bacteria resemble those of an organ, leading some to liken gut bacteria to a "forgotten" organ. It is estimated that these gut flora have around 100 times as many genes in aggregate as there are in the human genome.”

Studies have linked the microbes in our intestines to beneficial effects, including breaking down fiber into fatty acids; repressing the growth of harmful microorganisms; training the immune system to respond only to pathogens; and defending against some diseases and they are also linked to diseases such as obesity, colon-rectal cancer, inflammatory bowel disease and colitis. In a study released today, scientists show that gut bacteria in zebra fish modulate an important signaling pathway where colorectal cancer takes root. The pathway happens to be the wnt pathway, which is known to play a key role in the homeostasis of many tissues; furthermore, its signaling via ß–catenin (one of Wnt’s several receptors) is perturbed in a variety of tumors. Now two complementary papers have demonstrated that Wnt may play a causative role in aging (ouroboros).

My mother has this ailment that I always considered it as a neurosis. Whenever she is nervous, upset or tired, she has diarrhea. This disease is passed on to all her four children. Now all of her children are over 40 years of age and no longer suffer from this ailment. I talked to a family practitioner about it 10 years ago and was told that it was pure nonsense. Reading studies about gut flora made me realize that this ailment has something to do with gut flora, since we all acquire our gut flora from our mothers. In my own case, it took about 20 years after leaving home to be rid of this nuisance. Now my gut flora is probably very different from my mother. I have no doubt that gut flora is as important as scientists claim. Therefore, studies should look at long term couples (different genetics, same gut flora) to see what roles genetics play and what roles gut flora play in cancer development and other diseases.