Can Poop Donations Help?
In Western countries, people’s bodies now lack about half the vital bacteria. Researchers suspect that it promotes many diseases such as Crohn’s disease, arthritis, allergies and obesity. Why is our microbiome declining? And can the destroyed intestinal flora be restored?
There is a surprising amount going on in the body. There are billions of germs roaming around. There are at least 1000 different species in every human being – bacteria, fungi, protozoa. Small microorganisms colonize the intestines, but also the skin, nose, mouth and genitals. It is not in any way disgusting or harmful as we know it today. Rather, these germs, also known as microbiome, keep us healthy. But there is a problem.
“Probably about half of the microbiome in Western countries is now lost,” says Till Strowig, who studies the protective effect of bacteria in the intestinal flora at the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig. The problem is that researchers are increasingly pointing out that dwindling microbes are making many people more vulnerable to diseases.
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