This is the second part of “bacteria that keeps us alive“, and that is how a large part or billions of them make us keep breathing, here you will be able to know other points of view from specialists.
The universe is infinite, as so is our body internally …As we mentioned in the previous article, we have 39 trillion microorganisms that live in our body and help us to be alive. For some people this is surprising and for others is something that seems fictitious, but it is reality.
The author of the book “I Have Multitudes”, Ed Young, emphasizes that “human beings have one bacteria cell for each of their own, but since they are significantly smaller, they weigh less.” According to constant studies, the calculated 39 trillion is equivalent to one or two kilos.
One or two kilos? Are they meaningful?
One or two kilos added to the types of bacteria that inhabit our body, all different in each human being, give as a result that they are “large” for our weight. Many of the viruses are involved in essential bodily processes and are part of our internal ecosystem. We could say, that we would not survive for long, if all of them disappeared.
Different ecosystems, different bacteria …
The writer Young, adds that “in the different ecosystems of our bodies, the bacteria can vary. To take as examples, those that are in the nose, are humid, like -a tropical forest- and those that are in the forearm are dry , -like a desert-.
Is it true that our mood can change because of them?
In previous years, specialists have conducted animal studies that show how bacteria actually affect mood, personality, and resilience to stress and anxiety. But it is still not entirely clear, if something similar happens in humans.
Bacteria according to Tico Specialist: Dr. Aimara Lizarzabal
TCRN, talked with doctor (Otorhinolaryngologist), Aimara Lizarzabal, who told us that: “decade after decade, in the human body there are millions of microorganisms that are our natural guests, that is, that in our organism there are bacteria naturally and when these microorganisms suffer some alteration, either by an external infectious process, they can multiply and cause pathologies”.
For Lizarzabal, there is presence of microorganisms the entire surface “of skin, hair, nails, nose, mouth, genitals and in any other cavity or tissue, especially of the mucosa like the lungs, the digestive tract, nowadays it is called “Microbiota”, experts changed to that name about 10 years ago”.
Bacterial homeostasis and our health
Bacteria comprise multiple physiological functions within our body, in fact, people with pathologies where their immunological defenses are lowered, the internal environment or homeostasis is unbalanced, thaen diseases begin to be generated.
Since the end of the 19th century, medicine has been discovering that many diseases are caused by bacteria and that contagion occurs through its transmission from one person to another. They are known by the name of -pathogens- and are responsible for some infectious diseases, auto-immune processes and functional disorders. But, the vast majority of microbes are not harmful to health, as we have mentioned.
How Bacteria in our body vary with age
The presence bacteria changes with the age of the people; They colonize the digestive tract at birth and during the first year of life, because even the type of child delivery and breastfeeding (natural or artificial) conditions the baby’s intestinal flora. Vaginal delivery is the one that provides more microorganisms in the digestive tract of the child; Breastfeeding also helps beneficial bacteria take up residence in the digestive system.
In 2014, researchers from the University of Washington conducted a study with samples from skin, mouth and feces. By analyzing the bacterial populations present in the feces of babies, a factor known as -microbial- age could be calculated, which differed from the chronological one depending on the developmental maturity with which they were born.
Microbiome
It is worth noting that the diversity of the microbiota of people between 18 and 30 years of age is much greater than that of individuals over 60 years of age, so it could be that a similar study could be carried out in adults.
The main objective of the studies has also been to determine how these microorganisms are related to cellular aging and, in turn, to establish mechanisms that in the future allow us to know how prone a person will be to develop disorders such as inflammatory bowel disease, based on mismatches between their ages, the discoveries are still being analyzed.
