America Gut Project: our microbiome our self
Very interesting article in the NYT Sunday magazine, May 19, 2013, "Some of My Best Friends are Bacteria" by Michael Pollan. Reminiscent of Gulp, but actually feel like I got more info from the short article then the long, story, study, lesson book.
why has it taken us or at least the scientific community so long to realize the importance of the bacteria within us? Given the enormous quantities of bacteria (at least 100 trillion, Pollan tells us) we harbor, feed and "release", it seems like this microbiome would have been the subject of interest decades ago.
This microbiome though is not only interesting because of how important a role it apparently plays in human health or the reasons for why its study has been so long absent but also because it calls into questions or at least problemitizes issues of evolution and what it means to be human (when we are in fact greatly infested with bacteria. . .).
Can we talk about "our" job as humans as a single organism any longer? Or must we be thinking about all the organisms that inhabit us?
Is "our" job (whoever "we" are) to replicate our genes or the bacterias' genes or both? And who gets priority?
If a healthy organism is one that has a good and varied quantity of bacteria from the moment of birth until death, what role should soap and under cleansers play? Are there soaps that just kill the bad bacteria and leave the remainder behind?
One scientist raised the question that the mix of good and bad that the microbiome provides the human may part of the evolutionary need to shuffle us off the stage after our child bearing days are over. Raises the issue of why are we so determined to extend our life at all cost? Is there some other, more worthy goal (like extending the quality of our day?) that might be more important and worthwhile and have better long term consequences? (Interesting conundrum given that I was just reading in National Geographic an article about the long lived and how they've achieved it . . . didn't mention the microbiome but I'm sure it's related).
Of course, once I read this article, I had to immediately go look up the American Gut Project. http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/american-gut-what-s-in-your-gut--7. This crowd sourced funded project (not completely funded yet) is an attempt to "characterize the microbial diversity of the global gut". Immediately, I have to wonder if there is such a thing as the "global" gut. Wouldn't guts be individual or at least geographically or family specific? We can't all have some statistically normed gut, can we?
On this site, you can actually participate in the study, submitting your own "gut" sample for a donation and getting it examined with a report returned to you. Also on the site are bunches of articles about our gut and what affects it. Pretty soon, maybe we'll take gut science classes!
I had to quote this from the website:
I couldn't find anything about the soap question though--how much washing is good? When do we really need to? When should we leave well enough alone?
And, one last tidbit from the article: keep your toothbrush at least 6 feet away from the toilet (nuff said).
why has it taken us or at least the scientific community so long to realize the importance of the bacteria within us? Given the enormous quantities of bacteria (at least 100 trillion, Pollan tells us) we harbor, feed and "release", it seems like this microbiome would have been the subject of interest decades ago.
This microbiome though is not only interesting because of how important a role it apparently plays in human health or the reasons for why its study has been so long absent but also because it calls into questions or at least problemitizes issues of evolution and what it means to be human (when we are in fact greatly infested with bacteria. . .).
Can we talk about "our" job as humans as a single organism any longer? Or must we be thinking about all the organisms that inhabit us?
Is "our" job (whoever "we" are) to replicate our genes or the bacterias' genes or both? And who gets priority?
If a healthy organism is one that has a good and varied quantity of bacteria from the moment of birth until death, what role should soap and under cleansers play? Are there soaps that just kill the bad bacteria and leave the remainder behind?
One scientist raised the question that the mix of good and bad that the microbiome provides the human may part of the evolutionary need to shuffle us off the stage after our child bearing days are over. Raises the issue of why are we so determined to extend our life at all cost? Is there some other, more worthy goal (like extending the quality of our day?) that might be more important and worthwhile and have better long term consequences? (Interesting conundrum given that I was just reading in National Geographic an article about the long lived and how they've achieved it . . . didn't mention the microbiome but I'm sure it's related).
Of course, once I read this article, I had to immediately go look up the American Gut Project. http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/american-gut-what-s-in-your-gut--7. This crowd sourced funded project (not completely funded yet) is an attempt to "characterize the microbial diversity of the global gut". Immediately, I have to wonder if there is such a thing as the "global" gut. Wouldn't guts be individual or at least geographically or family specific? We can't all have some statistically normed gut, can we?
On this site, you can actually participate in the study, submitting your own "gut" sample for a donation and getting it examined with a report returned to you. Also on the site are bunches of articles about our gut and what affects it. Pretty soon, maybe we'll take gut science classes!
I had to quote this from the website:
In summary, I paraphrase Michael Pollan: Eat dirt, not too much, mainly with plants (and meat is ok, even with a little fat on it).
*I wish I could claim credit for coming up with Guts, Germs, and Meals – but I cannot. I borrowed it from an excellent article written about the association of gut bugs and type 1 diabetes (definitively worth reading).
I couldn't find anything about the soap question though--how much washing is good? When do we really need to? When should we leave well enough alone?
And, one last tidbit from the article: keep your toothbrush at least 6 feet away from the toilet (nuff said).
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