Your Micrcobiome: More Dogs and Fewer Antibiotics

The other day in our class, a professor from the Nursing school came in to guest lecture about the microbiome. She explained that everyone has about 3 pounds of bacteria growing within them, and how our microbiome is technically the largest organ within our body. We have bacteria growing in our stomach that can work in our body in a variety of ways including boosting the immune system. Here is a youtube video explaining all about the microbiome!

I had been exposed to the concept of the microbiome when I was taking antibiotics for a bad sinus infection. My doctor had recommended that I take a pro-biotic with the antibiotic so my stomach flora was not disrupted permanently. I suffered from 4 long drawn out sinus infections and was on four separate courses of antibiotics. I was consistently eating yogurt and drinking Kefir to consume micro bacteria.

During the lecture, I remembered how my sister had jokingly warned me that taking antibiotics for such a long time. She teased me about it for a while because she had read an article in The New Yorker about Crohn's Disease and H. Pylori. When sitting through the lecture, I remembered this and decided to explore the topic more.

From my research, I found a research article from the Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology  that explored the connection between taking antibiotics and Crohns Disease. They conducted a retrospective cohort study (and there were some selection bias issues with the study) however, the results displayed that those who had developed Crohn's were three time more likely to have taken antibiotic treatments as children (our microbiome develops until about age 3). I thought this was an interesting connection, although it is loose since a lot is not known about Crohn's disease. There is also a suggestion to continue research and look into the interactions with the environment and how that could influence the development of Crohn's disease.

Something new that I learned about from her lecture was The Human Gut project, she told us that people sometimes pay up to $100 to have their feces analyzed to better understand their microbiome. Honestly, idea of sending my poop to a lab grosses me out (let alone paying $100 to do so...) However, the concept of knowing what bacteria growing in your stomach is novel. After looking into this project more, I found a link for another article describing how the microbiome of pet dogs is similar to their owners, and researchers can tell which dog belongs to which owner from their fecal samples alone. This seemed really cool to me, mainly because I love dogs. I also just love the idea that your pet is growing the same bacteria as their owner.

The article described how living with a dog during infancy can help lower one's risk of developing asthma and allergies later in life. I started to notice patterns on how our first few years and our environments during this time affect our health later in life. It also highlights how important our microbiome is in our health and how we need to keep it from becoming "the forgotten organ".