microorganisms inside us The gut can have a big impact on our health, but research shows that the microorganisms that surround us in our environment, the so-called natural environmental microbiome, can also have a big impact. I am. This suggests that we all need to spend more time interacting with nature, both outdoors and indoors.
My first introduction to this emerging field of science was with Professor Gretchen Daley at Stanford University. She mentioned a Finnish research project that showed that letting kindergarten-age children play in gardens containing “soil” from the forest floor had a significant positive impact on the gut microbiome. Seventy-nine young children participated, all living in an urban environment and spending most of their days in different childcare centers across Finland. The only difference between the two is that these nurseries have three different types of outdoor spaces.
The first type was a fairly standard outdoor playground consisting of concrete, gravel, and plastic mats. The second type is commonly found in childcare settings that are already nature-oriented, with grass, soil, and planted areas for children to play. These two served as a control to compare a third experimental space where concrete was used. The gravel was covered with part of the forest floor and soil from the local coniferous forest.
Children were encouraged to play in only one of the three types of gardens each day during the 28-day experimental period (note that some kindergartens had more than one playground). They used genetic sequencing of bacteria taken from skin swabs and stool samples to measure the children’s skin and gut microbiota before and after play, as well as changes in T cells and cytokines in their blood. These cells and proteins play an important role in preventing autoimmunity and autoimmune diseases. Their levels are often used as an indicator of how well the immune system is working.
Remarkable results emerged. Children who played in experimental gardens showed significantly increased diversity of microbiota in their skin and gut compared to children who played in urban or nature-oriented areas. Importantly, these are the “good” types of microbiota that are associated with health benefits. Children also had a significant increase in immune markers, indicating enhanced immune regulatory pathways, indicating a reduced risk of immune-mediated diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease and rheumatoid arthritis. I am.
The importance of this research cannot be overstated. This means that even short-term exposure to natural microbial diversity can fundamentally change the diversity of the microbiome on our skin and in our gut. Furthermore, it suggests that changes in the gut microbiota may modulate immune system function.
A healthy microbiome is created, not born.
everyone has A unique community of microorganisms in the gut. A person’s ethnicity, the food they consume, their antibiotic use, their body size, and their level of physical activity all leave a distinct imprint on the diversity of their gut microbes. The role of these microbiome communities is important. Our organs can only synthesize 11 of the 20 essential amino acids we need, so the rest, along with 13 essential vitamins, are collected and synthesized by our gut bacteria.
And these microbial communities don’t just help our gut extract nutrients from food. Microbes also produce some of the most important compounds for our health, including immunosuppressants, anticancer agents, and anti-inflammatory compounds. They appear to be associated with our immune system, central nervous system function, and related health outcomes, and they appear to be associated with specific gut flora (the so-called “sick” microbiome) and certain diseases. So much so that a clear correlation has been discovered between them. Those with unique gut microbiota signatures include irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, celiac disease, colorectal cancer, and even non-intestinal diseases such as obesity and type 2 diabetes.
