Natural News

Imagine you are seated in a space filled with public exhibiting all their diverse and obviously visible human traits. Most easily detected are gender, height, and weight, followed by size, age, and race or ethnicity. Your eyes scan the room, not in search of differences, but instead seeking out similarities profound in their ability to link you to another. However, in this scenario, one thing you may have in common is not discernible to the eye. Ready for a surprise? You may share with several of your “roommates” an identical composition of gut bacteria, placing you in one of potentially three categories only recently identified as enterotypes. Of course, expressing curiosity as to someone’s “gut type” isn’t a great way to begin a conversation. It could quickly get you shunned, if not slapped. It obviously is not a very sexy topic, but when placed within the context of functional modules meant to advance our knowledge of human health, it is uniquely provocative.

While many in the natural health community were learning how to best integrate probiotics and fermented foods into their diet for improved digestive health, a select group of scientists were busy cataloging the whole genetic code of gut microbiota. This research involves that mysterious internal world hosting about 50 trillion bacteria. In an effort to categorize micro-organics associated with human beings in both healthy and diseased states, researchers have begun the lofty task of sequencing microbial DNA. They have now moved from acknowledging microbial symbiosis to considering its purposes in the human body, and onward to mapping of the human microbiome. Their efforts have reaped a sizable reward.

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