Take a moment to ponder the wonders of your gut microbiota.
This collection of some thousand species of microbes comprise 1,000 times more cells than exist in your brain and spinal cord, and ten times more than the number of human cells in your entire body. Together, the gut microbiota weigh about as much as you liver, and more than your brain and heart.
This has led some people to refer to the gut microbiota as a newly discovered organ, one that rivals the complexity of your brain.
The vast majority of gut microbes are not only harmless, but are in fact beneficial for our health and well-being, these are referred to by scientists as symbionts. The symbionts obtain nutrients from ourselves and in exchange they help keep the gut in balance and defend against intruders. But there is a small number of potentially harmful microbes, called pathobionts, that reside in your gut as well. Under certain conditions these untrustworthy microbes can turn their weapons against us.
Pathobionts have molecular tools that serve as artillery for attacking the gut lining, causing inflammation of the lining or ulcers. Today these manifest in bloating, IBS, diverticulitis, sugar cravings and thought to be the route cause of gut related cancers.
This change of loyalty can be a consequence of changes in diet, especially processed foods, antibiotics, or severe stress, and it results in the abnormal accumulation or increased virulence of certain populations of bacteria, thereby transforming former symbionts into pathobionts.
Yet human gut microbes living in a healthy gut, fed on a balanced diet, usually live on harmony with us. They mind their own affairs which include digestion, growth and reproduction and supporting our immunity.
The simple reason is that the costs to both sides greatly outweigh the benefits. Instead both sides provide services to each other .....AN ANCIENT BINDING CONTRACT.
The symbiosis between microbes and ourselves that developed in its simplest form many millions of years ago continues in our bodies today.
Microbes gain by being able to live a privilaged life in our intestines, which comes with a constant supply of food, temperature and unlimited free travel. \They also gain a free connection to our internal internet via the Vegus nerve which travels from the gut to the brain and the flow of information transmitted by hormones, gut peptides, nerve impulses and other chemical signals. This information allows them to keep track of our emotional states, hormone balance, our stress levels, whether we are asleep or awake. Having access to this private information helps the microbes to adjust production of their metabolites not only to ensure optimal living conditions for themselves, but also to stay in harmony with our gut environment.
In exchange, the microbes provide us with essential vitamins, metabolise digestive compounds, called bile acids, that are produced by the liver and detoxify foreign chemicals that our bodies have never experienced --- so-called xenobiotics. Most importantly, they digest dietary fibre and complex sugar molecules that our digestive system cannot break down or absorb on its own and thus provide us with a substantial number of additional calories that we would otherwise lose in our stool.
Respecting the key points of this ANCIENT BINDING CONTRACT has produced a remarkable peaceful and mutually beneficial coexistence between microbes and human beings that has persisted for millions of years. It is an astonishing accomplishment - we humans are light years away from such a track record of harmony.
Drinking Tibico with its complex microbial content can only but help maintain or rebalance your gut health.
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