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1-Page Summary of Missing Microbes
Overview
Have you ever had a bad infection that went away after taking antibiotics? Antibiotics can be very useful in fighting infections.
But like any other thing, too much of it can be harmful. Just as an excess amount of a pesticide will kill your favorite flowers in the garden, antibiotics can kill your gut bacteria that keep you healthy.
In this article, you’ll learn about the risks and benefits of antibiotics.
This article explains how microbes are critical to life on Earth; it also shows that elks and wolves have a lot in common with your gut bacteria. It even tells you why farmers give porklings antibiotics.
Big Idea #1: Missing microbes may be behind the rise of chronic diseases like asthma, allergies and diabetes.
The number of people suffering from obesity, diabetes, cancer and other ailments is increasing rapidly. Why is this happening? Is it because modern medicine has failed us?
The answer lies in the tiny organisms that call your body home. Your microbiome is a community of microorganisms, and it helps fight diseases. It’s extremely important for your immune system.
There are trillions of microorganisms living in our bodies. Where do they come from?
When a baby is born, it gets covered with diverse microbes from the birth canal. These organisms then colonize the infant’s skin and gut and establish the microbiome that will remain with him or her for life.
Caesarian sections and overuse of antibiotics can alter your microbiome, which could result in a weaker immune system or antibiotic-resistant bacteria. This is because any change to the microbiome—especially the loss of one of its many bacterial species—can have serious consequences.
The more diverse your fecal matter, the better it’s protected from unwanted foreign invaders. If even one species is removed from the ecosystem of bacteria in our intestines, then the rest of that microbe community will suffer or cease to exist altogether.
To get an idea of how this works, let’s consider a much larger ecosystem – Yellowstone National Park.
About 70 years ago, wolves were taken out of Yellowstone National Park. The elk population increased as a result.
The elk ate all the willows on the riverbanks, which meant fewer beavers and songbirds. Fewer beavers meant less dams, which caused erosion because there was no longer a place for water to go.
When wolves were removed from the ecosystem, there was less food for scavengers. This caused a drop in their population. It also affected other animals that depended on them, such as eagles and bears. Moreover, bison had to compete with elk for food since they share an identical diet. And it all happened because of one species removal!
Big Idea #2: Microbes were on Earth long before us, and are responsible for our very existence.
Imagine how far back in history you would have to go to find the first microbes, our ancestors, and humans. Humans are so recent that we only show up two seconds before midnight on this 24-hour clock of evolution!
