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The Human Microbiome Project Creates More Questions than Answers

June 30, 2012
The bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and fungi that live in and on our
bodies, collectively known as our microbiome, exceed the number of
cells in our bodies by a factor of 10.

Until recently most of our understanding of these microbes was in the
context of the study of pathogens—microbes that cause disease. But
recently a whole new field of study has opened up as scientists
realize that our microbiome is essential for health and survival. Just
as pathogens interact with our cells to cause disease, so the ‘good’
microbes interact with our cells and with one another to produce
health. We could live without them, but not well.

There are thousands of questions yet to be answered about our
relationship to the tiny living things that happily reside in and on
our bodies. Recent studies are starting to answer a few of them. Some
insights:

The composition of human microbiomes varies from one geographic
location to another.
A microbiome is, to some extend, species specific. Mice living with
human microbiomes did not do well. We can assume that the opposite
would also be true.
Children with autoimmune diseases have less diverse and less stable
microbial populations than children without these diseases.
A lean twin has a different and more diverse microbial population than
an obese twin.
The various colonies of microbes that live on the skin affect skin
health.
One of the questions scientists are asking is this: Is there a core
set of microbes common to most humans? The Human Microbiome Project
has been set up to address this question. For a start, the genetic
material from the bacteria inhabiting 250 disease-free people has been
decoded. Scientists have learned that thousands of strains of bacteria
reside with each person, and the microbiome of each person is unique.
Some of the bacteria are pathogenic, but living in the midst of
‘friendly’ bacteria, they appear to be kept in check.

Some scientists are now asking, “Are we just the cells of our bodies,
or is our microbiome also part of us?”

Nutritionists are taking a special interest in the microbes that
inhabit our digestive systems, a collection of living things sometimes
referred to as “gut flora.” Every time we ingest food or drink, we are
feeding our gut flora, and the food we consume benefits some of those
microbes and inhibits others. Not much is known about gut flora
themselves, much less their interactions with one another and with the
food we feed them. A whole new category of foods known as probiotics,
foods that are believed to favor the ‘good’ microbes or introduce new
friendly ones, has been described, and you can read about them here.

Antibiotics do just the opposite. Intended to kill pathogens that are
multiplying out of control within the body, they also kill the
friendly microbes that keep us healthy. Overuse of antibiotics by
humans and overfeeding to cows, pigs, and chickens raised for food is
a major concern.

For more on this story, click here and here.


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