n you think about your microbiome, typically we only think about the one in our gut. We ignore it and continue on with a diet high in saturated fats, highly processed foods, empty calories, and low nutrients. So, let’s discuss the microbiome a bit. There are actually 3 individual microbiomes in males and 4 individual microbiomes in females, and they are the oral microbiome, gut microbiome, vaginal microbiome, and the microbiome on our skin. These actually start in your body when you come out of the vagina. Yes, your mom starts your microbiome just before you are born. That microbiome is enhanced with colostrum, and off you go. Now, this population will grow over time, and the types of bacteria and their percentage of the total population will change over time. I should mention that there are thousands of bacteria species that go into our microbiome. These bacteria can be altered with diet, introducing more of a few species, environment, and finally the lack of a species. This can be managed to protect our health though through a process called Rebiosis. Our microbiome starts as a baby, though, so let’s explore the process.
When a baby comes out through the vagina, there is skin on skin contact that facilitates the first microbiome transfer from mother to child. The vaginal microbiome is chiefly comprised of Lactobacilli. The vaginal microbiome can be upwards of 1011 (100,000,000,000) bacteria. When these bacteria die off, the condition is known as bacterial vaginosis. The chief benefit for the child is that lactobacillus makes lots of antimicrobial chemicals.
Moms contribution is not over with there, but that particular microbiome has done half of its job. Seeding the child with a microbiome. The other half is preventing infections for the woman. Then it is time for baby to eat. Mother’s milk provides many immune, nutrient, and microbiome for baby’s health. Here we start to see more species introduced into the microbiome, such as Bifidobacterium infantis, Streptococcus spp., and Akkermansia muciniphilla. The number of bacteria ingested daily by the child is somewhere in the region of 105 bacteria. These bacteria can and will change over time and even disappear from the microbiome.
There are several factors that have a profound effect on our microbiome and our health and keep it in a constant state of evolution. The composition of our symbiont is influenced by other strains of bacteria, fungi, viruses, medications, and nutritional status. To keep from writing a book here, that is coming out later, I am going to focus on nutritional status effects on our microbiome. It might be a surprise to some people, but a low fiber diet has a very large effect on the gut microbiota. I had a patient tell me that they read on the internet that fiber was bad for you. While keeping my professional composure, but I really wanted to do a facepalm. I then pulled up a bunch of studies that support the functions provided by fiber. Some of these bacteria use non-digestible fiber as a food source. Others like Akkermansia actually digest the mucus lining in the lumen of the intestine with several functions, and lubrication is one. The concept of mucus turnover is believed to aid in keeping the system healthy. In the low fiber environment, this lubrication is used to move the digested food through the intestines, but also aids in preventing bacteria from entering the body (translocation). Not to mention the starving of healthy strains of bacteria, which causes a shift in the population. When the diet is devoid of fruits and vegetables there are things that our bacteria need to survive like inulin, pectin, and β-glucans will cause a shift in the microbial population can and does occur. Now we get to maintaining your microflora and Rebiosis.
Maintaining of your microbiota is fairly easy. Eat a lower saturated fat diet, sugar, and higher fiber diet. Vary the contents of your fruits and vegetables too. This will encourage a broader species population for your microbiome. Not only are you getting the prebiotics, but you’re getting new bacteria for your gut, also known as rebiosis. Including fermented foods like sauerkraut, kefir, and kimchi are great sources of probiotics. Occasionally you may feel the need to reinforce the commensal strains to help with weight loss, anxiety and depression, course of antibiotics, surgery, change in diet, odd cravings, or even indigestion feel free to give me a call or book an appointment to have a discussion of which one is best for your particular circumstance.
