Messing with your microbiome

As I discussed last week, your microbiome consist of the trillions of microorganisms that live in and on your body (three pounds of them). These resident microbes exert a powerful influence on our health, including training and modulating our immune systems. Because of our war on bacteria, we have impoverished our microbiomes in a way that has led to the rise of chronic diseases that were virtually unheard of 75 years ago.

Researchers are now trying to figure out ways to refurbish our microbiomes. So far, there’s not been much progress on that front. Fecal transplants (transplanting fecal matter from a healthy donor to a sick patient) have been successful in treating people who have been infected with the Clostridium difficile bacteria, a life-threatening condition. Unfortunately, C. difficile is the only disease for which fecal transplants are approved by the FDA. Plenty of people with intestinal problems (count me in) would like to try this therapy. Many have tried to do it at home (count me out). You can find instructions for this on the internet.

“Probiotics”—substances containing “good” bacteria—don’t actually help much. In fact, most scientific studies have not found any health benefits from consuming probiotics—either in supplements or in foods such as yogurt and sauerkraut. Considering that 99 percent of our gut bacteria are anaerobic (they function in an oxygen-free environment) and that probiotics are exposed to oxygen, it’s not surprising that the probiotics we eat don’t easily colonize our guts. However, there is some indication that consuming probiotics may help with some kinds of diarrhea. This may be because the one percent of gut bacteria that are aerobic live in the cecum, a cul-de-sac at the beginning of our large intestines where bacteria work on the partially digested food that become feces.  For myself, I can say that probiotics haven’t done anything for me, and I’ve tried lots of them.

A company called AOBiome sells a spray containing live cultures of Nitrosomonas eutropha, an ammonia-oxidizing bacteria commonly found in dirt. Before we started washing it away, it occupied our skin, feeding on the ammonia in our sweat and, in the process serving as a built-in cleanser, deodorant, anti-inflammatory, and immune booster. Studies have shown that restoring N. eutropha populations has helped people clear up acne, rosacea, and eczema.

Here’s my favorite do-it-yourself story: a man suffered from ear infections in one ear and had been treated with antibiotics in that ear. One day, he inserted ear wax from his good ear into his bad ear. He was cured (this is true).

In the future, scientists may discover therapies that will reinvigorate our feeble microbiomes. Until then, you might try playing in the dirt.

Next week: Sleep update: some new information

For an introduction to this blog, see I Just Say No; for a list of blog topics, click the Topics tab.